I woke up this morning to my cats perched by the window, staring intently at a doe pacing in the backyard. It looked like the deer jumped the fence, but her tiny baby was still behind the barrier. I was afraid to open the back gate near the baby, because mama deers are extremely protective. The side gate was open, but she wasn’t leaving her fawn. So what did I do? I called the state game commission to help her get out. Luckily, she left before anyone was sent to my house. I hope she reunites with her baby!
It turns out that my part of town, near Riverview Park, has a deer problem. It’s nothing new in Pittsburgh, but the local population is at a tipping point. A Pitt professor who has studied deer for decades says that urban forests are at extreme risk. Between deer eating new growth and buck rubbing (where the tree is damaged from bucks rubbing their antlers on trees during mating season), forests can’t regenerate quickly enough.
This episode of For the Love of Parks, a podcast by the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, gets into the particulars. Friends of Riverview Park is currently researching potential solutions and hopes to get more citizens involved.
